Snowboarding is a popular snow sport in which a rider, or snowboarder, rides a single board across a snow covered terrain. The rider secures both feet into bindings attached to the upper surface of the snowboard, improving the rider's control of the snowboard and preventing the snowboard from sliding away from the rider in a fall.
By securing both feet to the board in this manner, snowboarders severely limit their ability to propel themselves forward on level terrain. Unlike skiers, snowboarders do not use poles and cannot propel themselves by planting one ski and then pushing off with the other as is possible with individual skis. Therefore, a rider must disengage at least one foot to propel himself forward. Usually this is done by disengaging the rear foot and using it to push the snowboard forward, similar to the operation of a skateboard. Since this practice of disengaging a foot must be repeated after every run, it is desirable to have a fast and simple means for securing and releasing at least one foot from the snowboard binding.
There are two types of foot wear used for snowboarding--hard boots and soft boots. Hard boots are rigid and evolved from ski boots. They include ridge portions extending from the toe and heel which clip into plate bindings. Such plate bindings accept only boots specifically designed for them.
Soft boots are generally preferred by snowboarders as they are more comfortable than hard boots and provide a greater range of motion in the ankles, which aids in steering the snowboard. Furthermore, most soft boots have a generic design making them compatible with the most common type of soft boot binding systems. Such binding systems consist of two adjustable straps which are tightened over the foot portion of the boot to secure the rider's boots to the board. These adjustable straps have two parts, one strap portion having a ratcheted surface and the other a corresponding pawl mechanism mounted to its top surface. The ratcheted portion is slid into the pawl mechanism until a desired strap tension is achieved. When a rider wishes to remove a foot from the binding, he must disengage both straps. This entails completely separating the two portions of each strap. In addition to being a tedious task, the rider necessarily loses the desired setting for strap tension. Furthermore, when the straps are disengaged, the separated portions of the strap tend to hang limply over the area of the binding where the rider places his boot. This obstructs entry and egress of the boot into, and out of the binding.
One advantage of snowboard binding systems for hard boots is that they are easily engaged and disengaged. A rider with a hard boot can simply engage the binding by inserting the ridge portion extending from the toe of the boot into a front portion of the plate binding and then pushing down at the heel. This causes the ridge portion at the heel of the boot to engage a retracting latching mechanism. The hard boot binding is disengaged simply by pulling up at the heel of the boot.
There are also quick-release binding systems for soft boots, but these require a boot specific to the particular binding system. This limits the rider's ability to use snowboards with different bindings. Also, soft boots designed for use with such binding systems include hardware on the bottom of the boot which can be adversely affected by dirt, mud, or other debris.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide an improved quick-release snowboard binding system for a generic soft boot which allows the rider to maintain his tension settings in the binding.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved snowboard binding system which provides substantially unobstructed entry and egress of a boot.